Gorilla Tool Kit

Before the advent of ape powertools, our closest ancestors discovered termite fishing-sticks and stone-nutcrackers. Now, gorillas have proven they are just a few steps away from the depth gauge and the trekking pole. According to a study by the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) and other organizations, for the first time ever, scientists have observed and photographed wild gorillas using tools. Up to this point, all other species of great apes, including chimpanzees and orangutans, have been observed using tools in the wild, but never gorillas.

The study, published in the open-access journal PLoS Biology, documented two separate occasions of individual western gorillas using sticks as tools in the northern rain forests of the Republic of Congo. Researchers made these observations in Mbeli Bai—a swampy clearing located in Nouabalé-Ndoki National Park, where monitoring has been ongoing since February 1995. The first instance occurred when a female gorilla, nicknamed “Leah” by scientists, attempted to wade through a pool of water created by elephants, but found herself waist-deep after only a few steps. Climbing out of the pool, Leah retrieved a straight branch from a nearby dead tree, then used it to test the depth of the water. Keeping her upper body above water, she moved some 10 meters out into the pool before returning to shore and her wailing infant.

On the second occasion, the researchers observed another female gorilla they named “Efi” using a detached tree trunk to support herself with one hand while digging for herbs with the other. As she moved from location to location, she used the log for one last job, as a bridge to help her cross a muddy patch of ground.

In the past, gorillas have been observed using tools in zoos, but not in the wild.  And, while most other observed instances of tool-usage in great apes are related directly to processing food (i.e. the cracking of nuts with rocks or extracting termites with long sticks), the wild gorillas employed theirs for postural support in response to environmental factors.

WCS scientists have been studying gorillas and other wildlife in the Republic of Congo since the 1980s. In 1993, the Congolese government, working in tandem with technical assistance from WCS, established Nouabalé-Ndoki National Park. The Mbeli Bai site is being managed to meet long-term gorilla research and ecotourism objectives.

“These protected areas are important not only for the conservation of the species they contain, they also hold the key to comparing our own development as a species with our next of kin,” said Thomas Breuer of WCS. “Places like Nouabalé-Ndoki, and the nearby Goualougo Triangle, are places where we see the process unfolding before our very eyes.”

An exclusive look at this scientific discovery, including never-before-seen photographs and interviews in Africa with the field scientists who observed and documented the behavior for the first time, will be broadcast as the lead segment in the launch episode of “Wild Chronicles,” a brand-new series airing nationally on PBS stations beginning October 1, 2005 (check local listings). Hosted by Boyd Matson, the weekly, half-hour, science and nature adventure TV series will be presented nationally by PBS member station WLIW New York.

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